There is a type of electronic socket contact which is widely used in electronic circuit boards and in electronic component sockets, in which a contact finger assembly is inserted and retained within a sleeve to form the completed socket contact. A plurality of such socket contacts can be retained within a plastic or other electrically insulative body to provide a component socket into which the leads of an electronic component are inserted. The socket contacts can also be retained within openings in a circuit board for acceptance of the leads of electronic components. A preferred socket contact is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,990 of the assignee of this invention.
An assembly machine which has been employed for assembly for the two parts of this type of socket generally includes a rotatable table containing openings therethrough around a circumferential track of the table. A socket body is inserted and retained in respective openings, and the contact portion is inserted into each recess atop a body portion which has previously been inserted into the recess. An anvil or other driving tool forces the contact portion into the body portion, and the assembled component is ejected from the bottom of the recess. The contact portion cannot always be accurately and repeatably aligned with the body portion during assembly by conventional machinery, and misalignment can occur in an assembled component with resulting decrease in the yield of acceptable components. In addition, the driving force of the tool employed for inserting the contact portion into the body portion is not controllable to a high degree of precision, resulting in contact or component damage.